Prior Dates Notwithstanding
by Wynn
Summary: Bucky sets up Steve and Darcy on a date. Both say yes, not because of their interest in each other, but because of their interest in him, which they both discover while on their date with each other. Awkward feels ensue.


AN: This is based off a prompt I received, which is as follows: Bucky, who is still recovering from Hydra, remembers that he used to always try to set Steve up with girls. He decides that Darcy is exactly Steve's type and tries to arrange the match. I would love either Wintershock or Wintershieldshock.

This is more Darcy and Steve mutually pining for Bucky. The sea bass is a reference, of course, to The Dark World. Also, Marvel owns the characters. I'm just playing in their sandbox for non-profit purposes for while. :)

Prior Dates Notwithstanding

By: Wynn

"Sea bass. _Sea_ bass. Sea baaaaaaas."

Steve looks up from his menu and frowns at Darcy. "You want sea bass? I don't think they have that here."

Darcy jerks at his question, as though she forgot Steve was there at the table with her. Her eyes fly up to his only to dart back down to her menu a second later. "No. No sea bass."

"Oh," Steve says.

Darcy's face turns red. "Yeah."

Neither continue. The silence grows, broken by the muted hum of successful conversation for the other patrons of the restaurant. Dim lighting illuminates each table; stirring violins sound from speakers hidden in the tasteful foliage. The ambience clearly screamed romance, yet awkward reigned here, Darcy with her menu up so high that Steve could only see a sliver of her forehead. He resists the urge to sigh at that. He also resists the urge to run full tilt for the nearest exit. He knows that Bucky meant well. He always meant well with these dates. He had before too, when Steve was skin and surly bones. And that's what Bucky remembered. The intention behind these dates, the drive to make Steve happy by finding him a girl who looked past his height and weight and various other ailments to see what Bucky called the best man in the world.

Bucky hadn't succeeded then, and despite the physical transformation that Steve had undergone in the intervening years, he wasn't succeeding now, each date that Bucky arranged for him since his arrival at the Avengers complex three months ago ending in disaster. It wasn't the fault of the dames. They liked Steve more now. And he tried, he really did, or he kind of did, his heart didn't, remaining stubbornly fixed on the oblivious fixer of the dates in the first place. That alone should make Steve say no to the dates. It wasn't fair to the ladies, the date a promise of romantic interest he just didn't possess. It didn't matter how gently Steve tried to let the ladies down at the end. He shouldn't have to because he shouldn't go. But he couldn't say no to Bucky, the intention and the dates too something that Bucky could reclaim from _before_ , from the time and the person who had been lost.

Darcy taps a nail against her menu now, drawing Steve from his contemplations. He looks at her again, despair twisting in his gut. He doesn't want this date to end in disaster. He liked Darcy. He considered her a friend and didn't want the easy camaraderie between them to vanish because of this, yet all signs pointed in that direction, what with how stiffly Darcy sat in her chair and how she hadn't held his gaze for more than a second since sitting down five minutes before.

He sighs at that. The sound makes Darcy stiffen even more. To that, Steve can only tighten his jaw. His eyes drift to the nearest exit. Only forty feet away. Mere seconds to freedom. But what explanation could he give to Bucky for abandoning Darcy, she his friend too, Bucky keener on her as a match for Steve than any of the other dates that he'd arranged so far?

Before he could scrounge for a believable lie, Darcy slaps her menu down by her plate, sets her hands onto the table, and finally looks him in the eye. "Okay, look, I have to be straight with you. If circumstances were different, I'd be all about this." She lifts a hand and swirls it between the two of them. "You are all that _and_ a bag of chips. Seriously, my mother would weep gross, snotty tears of joy if I started dating you. But…" She pauses then and draws in a deep breath. Steve has just a second to acknowledge the strange, twisted deja vu of this situation before she continues, her face flushing once more. "But… I have feelings. For someone. Someone who's not you. Like I said, though, if things were different, I would _totally_ have this cake and eat it too because you are legitimately one of the best people I've ever met. But it's not. Different, I mean. At least not now. Maybe someday it will be. I don't know. I just- I wanted to be honest, I didn't want to lead you on, so… there."

She trails off then and closes her eyes. A grimace pulls at her face. Steve sympathizes. He failed in every way imaginable when trying to let down his prior dates. And that thought, the reminder of this strange flip to the evening, makes Steve stop gaping and, instead, burst out laughing.

Darcy's eyes fly open at the sound. "Uh…"

"I'm sorry," Steve manages between gasps. He sets his menu aside and tries to compose himself. A few patrons nearby are starting to stare. "I just… That's my line."

Darcy blinks at him. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." Steve reaches for his water and takes a cooling sip, finally collecting himself. "Not that I don't like you," he says upon swallowing. "Because I do."

"But as a friend," she says.

Steve nods. "Yeah."

"Yes!" Darcy slaps her hands down onto the table, rattling the dishes. Leaning over, a bright grin on her face, she holds out at a hand to Steve for a high-five. She retracts it a second later, though, with a frown. "Wait. Why are you here if…"

Sighing, Steve rubs a hand across the back of his head. "Because Bucky asked me to. He's been trying to do this, set me up with someone, since he came back. I don't know. I think he's trying to be 'Bucky' again, who he was before, and I can't say no. I probably should because they've all been disasters, but he wants this so bad, so I…" Steve shoots her a rueful grin as he lowers his hand then his grin fades into a frown as a thought strikes him. "Wait. Why are _you_ here if…?"

Darcy says nothing. She just stares at Steve, her eyes wide and her face pale.

Steve's frown deepens. He leans across the table, voice lowering as he says, "Darcy, are you-"

"I'm here, too. Because of that. Because of Bucky. He asked, and I couldn't say no."

They stare at each other, comprehension dawning. Or dawning for Steve, comprehension already having dawned for Darcy, comprehension now understood by Steve in the wide set of her eyes and the pale tinge to her face.

They both came because of Bucky.

Because they were both in love with him.

Steve eases back in his chair. "Oh."

Darcy nods. "Yeah."

The waitress comes then for their orders. Neither Darcy nor Steve look at her, continuing instead to gawk at each other. A few seconds pass then the waitress says, brightly, "Why don't I give you two a few more minutes?"

"Yes," Steve says.

Darcy nods again. "Please."

To her credit, the waitress just nods as well. "Of course. Just signal when you're ready."

She moves off, to a nearby tables. Silence reigns between Steve and Darcy, the two still gaping at one another. A distant part of Steve's brain, the one that sounds like his ma, scolds him for his rudeness, for the boldness of his staring. He looks away, breathing fast. "So you…"

He sees Darcy nod from the corners of his eyes.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Silence descends once more. Steve finds his gaze drifting back to Darcy, yet it's she who looks away now, or not quite away, just not at his face, more at his shoulder or perhaps his arm. "Does this…"

"What?"

She lifts her eyes to his. "Make this better? Or worse? You know, the both of us…" She gestures between them again, no longer referencing their undesired date but their mutual love for Bucky.

Steve shrugs. "I don't know. Better, I guess." A wry grin starts to curve his lips and he shrugs a second time. "At least I don't have to lie this time about why I don't want a second date."

Darcy relaxes. "True. I was worried about that, too. Hence the opening babble."

Steve shifts forward in his chair. "So was I. Worried, I mean. I was dreading this, ever since Bucky first mentioned it to me."

Darcy arches a brow at him.

Steve shakes his head, his smile again turning wry. "You know what I mean. Because you're my friend."

Darcy holds the tease a moment longer before she, too, starts to smile. "I know what you mean. I thought about making up some excuse, but Bucky was so adamant about this, and I just… Well, you know."

"Yeah," Steve says. "I know."

Their smiles fade and silence settles again between them. They stare at each other once more, but less in shock this time and more in contemplation. A question nips at Steve, overriding the voice of his ma and her lessons on propriety. "Can I ask you something?"

Darcy attempts a smile. "Why I have a deep and abiding love for sea bass?"

Steve huffs out a soft laugh. "No. Though that was weird. I just… I wondered why you hadn't told him. Bucky. About how you feel."

Darcy tilts her chin at him. "Why haven't you?"

Steve lowers his gaze. "Touche."

Darcy's silent a moment then she says, "I don't know. Bucky's still finding his feet. I don't want to complicate things, you know."

"No, no," Steve says as he meets her eyes once more. "I know exactly what you mean. I feel the same."

Darcy nods. She doesn't say anything though. She stares at Steve, her brows drawn together. He sees the question in them, in the soft assessment of her eyes. Reaching for his glass again, he says, "Go on. You answered mine, so I should answer yours."

This earns him a small smile. It fades quickly though. Steve swallows a bit of his water and sets his glass back down. When he does, Darcy licks her lips and says, "Is this- Were you and Bucky, were you two together before?"

Steve averts his gaze.

"I'm sorry, Steve. I didn't mean to pry."

Steve shakes his head. "You didn't. I told you that you could ask."

"Doesn't mean I should have."

He shakes his head again, but can't quite meet her eyes. "It's okay. There's nothing to pry about. We weren't- We've never been."

"Oh."

Steve nods, his eyes fixed on the table. "Yeah."

Silence again, broken a few seconds later when Darcy says slowly, "So is this… new? How you feel?"

Steve grits his teeth. He considers lying, how he feels about Bucky his one abiding secret, but he finds himself shaking his head. Weight lifts from his chest as he does. Relaxing, he breathes in, the breath deep and clear, the truth finally spoken after all these years.

"That must suck then. Him always setting you up."

Steve snorts. "Yeah, it kind of does."

There's a beat or two of silence then Darcy says, brighter than before, "Well, if it makes it easier, you can tell him things went well with me. Maybe he'd stop trying to set you up then."

Steve looks up at Darcy. She smiles as he does, accompanying it with a shrug. The offer tempts him. No more dates, no more disappointments either, from the women or from Bucky, seen each night from him when Steve comes home and reveals the disastrous end. Brows drawing together, he says to her, "You'd be okay with that?"

Darcy shrugs again. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Because someday you might want to tell him how you feel. And wouldn't this be weird, me and you 'dating' first?"

Her smile collapses at the question. She looks away, to the restaurant, to the warm halos of light and intimate alcoves. Her expression wavers, but no tears fall, Darcy restraining them with a stiff shake of her head. "I'm never going to tell him."

"Why not?"

She gives him a look. "Are you serious?"

"Yes."

She lifts her chin at him. "Are you going to tell him how you feel?"

Steve's mouth goes flat. "Darcy, he doesn't like men. Not like that."

"Well, he doesn't like me either. Not like that."

Steve resists the urge to sigh. "You don't know-"

"Yes, I do. He set this up, Steve, you and me. If he had feelings for me, why would he encourage you to take me out? Or encourage me to go with you?" She shakes her head again. "No. I'm his friend. That's all. And I'm yours, too. I like hanging out with you. So if I can do that _and_ help save you from future romantic disasters, why not?"

Darcy strives again for a carefree smile. Maybe she succeeds, maybe the grief that Steve carried at loving one who didn't love you in return colored his vision. Maybe, but Steve still reaches out and lays a hand on top of hers. There's a slight hitch to Darcy's breathing as he does. She twists her hand in order to clasp his, the candle light catching the sheen of tears in her eyes.

"So," she asks, loosing a long exhale, "is that a yes?"

Steve takes a moment to steady his breath before responding. "Yes."

His response resurrects her usual smile, one that's broad and brilliant, suffused with warmth and just a touch sly. Steve feels himself brightening in response. Maybe, as Darcy said before. Maybe if things were different. Maybe, perhaps, one day they would be. His mother wasn't here to cry snotty tears of joy at the two of them dating, but he knows she would have liked Darcy. Bucky did, and prior dates notwithstanding, he'd always been a good judge of character.

In the distance, the waitress hovers. Steve glances at his menu. He appreciates the thought behind Bucky's choice of restaurant, but this place was for romance, not admission of its loss. Leaning forward, Steve catches Darcy's eye and drops his voice low, conspiratorial. "You want to get out of here? Get some burgers instead?"

"Hell _yes_." Darcy leans down to grab her purse from the floor by her feet. "Can we go to Tom's? I think we both need a chocolate milkshake and a massive order of cheese fries."

Steve's stomach rumbles by way of response.

Darcy looks at him and grins. "I'll take that as a yes."

"As a hell yes," Steve says as he stands. He maneuvers out from behind the table and holds out an arm to Darcy. "You know, all things considered, this might just be the best date that I've ever had."


End file.
